Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The American Life League is “overjoyed” by the decision taken by the bishops of Atlanta, Charlotte and Charleston to refuse Communion to pro-abortion Catholic public figures. The three bishops issued a joint proclamation, called "Worthy to Receive the Lamb: Catholics in Political Life and the Reception of Holy Communion."

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- As the population continues to dwindle, the Diocese of Fargo plans to close five small rural parishes in the coming months. The closures were announced after a yearlong demographic study.

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The Hindu Temple Society of North America, of Flushing, Queens, filed suit in federal court yesterday, claiming that local courts are aiding the hostile takeover of the Temple in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- Just a few days after being released by Marxist rebels in Colombia, Bishop Misael Vacca of Yopal called for the release of all hostages. “Colombia deserves peace, we deserve a better country in which we can all work honestly and live as brothers and sisters,” he said.

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- Catholic Charities in Spain, in conjunction with Churches Together International, is launching a relief effort in the Sudanese region of Darfur in order to provide medical attention and waste disposal for local residents and displaced families, who are without access to basic health services.

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- The editor-in-chief of the Cuban magazine Vitral, Dagoberto Valdes Hernandez, said this week Cuba is in need more than ever of “a climate of reconciliation, a language of reconciliation, gestures of reconciliation, attitudes of reconciliation and a future of reconciliation.”

Aug 5, 2004 - 12:00 am .- Spokesmen for Green party leftists and for prominent feminist groups announced this week their intentions to push the Spanish socialist government to “review” the financial aspects of the Concordat between Spain and the Holy See.